A Saturday in Segovia

Friday night I got to look through a telescope for the very first time. I saw three of Jupiter’s moons and I got to see the rings around Saturn.  It was truly amazing. I asked Alfonso when he got the telescope and he told me that Mercedes bought it for him as a wedding gift. I told him he obviously married the right person and I love them both just as much as I love astronomy. They are too precious and I am so grateful for this experience.

Spain is seriously just a marvelous country filled with attractive people who have the most perfect tan of life and beautiful, almond shaped eyes. Lots more people than you’d expect have light-colored eyes, like green or hazel. Such great features and such a dope ass culture. I’m very happy to have this in my DNA. Not only do I enjoy being here but I truly believe this experience is helping me to heal my “inner childhood wounds.” Growing up, my family suppressed a lot of my interests and I was basically told to take my naturally bubbly personality and bring it down a couple of notches. Sofia reminds me a lot of myself when I was her age. She’s goofy and silly and sometimes a little obnoxious but she’s kind and fun and has good manners. Alfonso and Mercedes embrace her uniqueness and it’s really nice to be a part of this environment to remind myself that I never did anything wrong while growing up. These parents accept their kids for who they are and I love being around this and it’s probably exactly what I need to be around right now. Before coming to Spain, a lot of things happened in my world, as they tend to do.... from having someone jump in my bed to tell me they overdosed on sleeping pills to floating someone financially who still owes me four thousand dollars and literally everything imaginable in between. It be too much sometimes and I’m not so sure why people tend to assume I’m their almighty savior. A big part of me leaving was to get my mental clarity back because I saw myself going into a dark place and I’ve been in darkness before and I know it’s not somewhere I ever want to be again. Being here has helped to bring me back to who I know I am and who I know I’ve always been and who I know I can also grow to be. I feel a sense of belonging that I haven’t really ever felt before. I share the same interests with this family and I see how they embrace their uniqueness and I am happy to know that people like this exist somewhere. And I love that the universe always helps me to find “my people.” This was a chance encounter but exactly the one I needed.

Saturday's destination was a trip to see Segovia, which happens to be Alfonso's hometown. He says that Segovia is the most beautiful place in all of Spain. And well, it most definitely is very beautiful, I see no lies there. It feels completely unreal just being in this historic little town, another movie scene scenario. Somewhere on this day, I found myself sitting on a couch in Alfonso's childhood home watching his mother teach Paula how to sew on the most vintage sewing device I’ve ever seen. Paula became distracted by her cellphone so somehow I ended up being the one who was getting taught, although I really didn’t learn anything because I have no idea what she was doing and no idea what she was saying but I wanted to be polite so I kept shaking my head up and down and pretended I knew what was going on. She kissed me on both cheeks before we departed, a normal custom in Spain, and invited me to come back anytime. Sofia just packed up the cookies her grandparents put out for us and put them into a container so she can bring them home for later. Yes girl! Great idea. 

Before coming to Alfonso’s parents house, we had a picnic in the park in front of a castle. This castle just so happens to be the castle that inspired the design of Cinderella’s castle. Now this one is a true story! Google it. I find this very amusing to even have been able to visit such a castle because I’m practically Cinderella myself and also we just recently watched the newest Cinderella movie starring Camila Cabello, which was something I wouldn’t have ever watched if it weren’t for the kids but honestly it was dope. And now today I’m somehow outside the inspiration for fuckin’ Cinderella’s castle chowing down the worlds best olives and cheese. Life is pretty cool. 

Now the church bells are ringing and we’re at a different side of Cinderella’s castle. Olivia is sharing Cheetos with everyone but I think she just got tired of sharing cus she just yelled at Juan to take no more than two. I just watched Mercedes and Alfonso take a selfie. I asked if they wanted me to take their picture but they’re recreating a selfie they took when they first began dating all those years ago. They are so precious. My phone is trash so I’m just enjoying the view and watching people take selfies. It’s super entertaining plus the view is better in real life as opposed to in the photo. It be like that sometimes. Sometimes it’s better to remain present and just soak in the present moment...

At one point in the day’s journey, Alfonso decided to not stop for someone about to walk in the crosswalk, which to be fair most cars don’t stop for pedestrians, and I’m not sure if the lady saw her life flash before her eyes or maybe I did.. but then Mercedes, a natural jokester, mentioned that this woman was “maybe one of his old teachers.“ lmfaooo! She got jokes. She was crackin’ so many jokes on him because of his driving skills and even just thinking about this right now while I’m typing about it, I’m fuckin’ dyinggg! I love them. There was also a 100km marathon on this day from Madrid to Segovia and Mercedes was yelling out of the window cheering on all of the people as we drove by them. I personally was dying with laughter and the kids, well they were embarrassed and yelling at their mother telling her to stop. So this is making Mercedes cheer louder and me laugh louder as well. My heart is seriously so full.

Now it's night and I’m currently in the van alone while everyone is inside some shop getting kebabs. It’s nice to have some moments of quiet before the hour and a half car ride back to Torrelaguna. You see, I'm something like a walking paradox. Although I do really really great in social settings and people usually tend to like me, I honestly prefer to be alone... So I opted out of dinner to soak in the 12 minutes of solitude after a day filled surrounded by people - but also I wasn't hungry either so don't think I just skipped a meal to be alone because that would be just slightly dramatic. :) Next, I just tried to open the door to get some air but either I'm seriously dumb or the door was stuck. Suddenly, it opened on its own and I see aunt Cris giggling. Apparently she just popped a squat between her car and ours. I fuckin’ love her so much. She was telling me how someone in the window of the apartment building behind the cars was looking directly at her while she was peeing, but she didn't care at all. Aunt Cris doesn’t speak much English but she is definitely the most entertaining member of her family. The other day when I was picking up Juan and Sofia from school, it started to rain a little so aunt Cris gave us a ride back to the house. I told her I could walk because it didn’t look like there was much room in her car for all of us and she said she had fit 9 people in her car before and if we happen to get pulled over, she’ll happily go to prison so she can have a vacation from her children. Every time I’m around her, I’m completely filled with hysterical laughter. She’s great. She's another huge reminder that language is only a small communication barrier and that good vibes are most definitely real. I usually have no idea what she's really saying and likely it's the same for her when I'm speaking as well but somehow the both of us are always laughing hysterically when we are together and I appreciate this so much.

Aunt Cris! 

It feels really good to be here and starting next week, I'll be teaching English classes to a bunch of new kids including someone's dad - who is a legit artist - so that's exciting. I met him a few days ago and his English is already pretty awesome so he just wants to become more fluent in a conversational setting so I imagine we can likely do artsy shit together while speaking in English. I'm totally here for it! I'm glad I decided to stay because I still have some self healing to do apparently because I'll randomly get an overwhelming sensation of feeling inadequate - to what? I'm not so sure actually. So, I'm still working on myself a bit and I swear I'm becoming a fucking psychic which I do naaahttt want to be at all.... but I also never asked to be born either so ya know.. whatever.. I guess that's life. I hope ya'll are out there livin' it! I'm most definitely livin' la vida loca, hahahaha. Ok bye :)